Feature – The Black and White

Yellow cats and red men: Rediscovering my passion for claymation

April 5, 2020

When my mom yelled “You’re so boring!” at me a few weeks ago, adding “You don’t have any hobbies,” I was mad. After all, isn’t school a hobby? But after thinking about it for a few minutes, I realized something: She was right. When I was little, I had so many after school activities. I play...

Bored in quarantine? Here are a few ideas to avoid cabin fever.

By Ben Stricker

April 2, 2020

As a bored high school student during quarantine, you’re probably wondering: What should I do with all of this time on my hands? I can’t go to school, I can’t see my friends and my parents won’t even let me leave the house because of the risk of contracting COVID-19. Well, while this all m...

“Photography is a really wonderful means of connecting with people”: Q&A with photographer Bill Bamberger

By Ben Stricker

March 23, 2020

Bill Bamberger, a North Carolina native, has spent his entire adult life photographing various cultural and social issues of our time in the United States and around the world. His photographs have appeared in numerous publications, including Aperture, Doubletake, Harper’s, The Washington Post Magazine, Fortune...

Students “ride-along” the track to becoming firefighters

By Meera Shroff

March 22, 2020

During junior Stella Hamman’s first day at the Montgomery County Fire Rescue Service Training Academy, she lined up military-style with other teenage cadets in the engine bay, the section of the station that holds all the ambulances and vehicles. Instructors placed hefty bags full of hoses and gear in ...

Q&A with former Senator Mark Pryor (‘81)

By Ben Waldman

March 17, 2020

Mark Pryor (D-Arkansas) served in the Senate from 2003 to 2015. Pryor attended Whitman from 1978 to 1981, while his father, David Pryor (D-Arkansas), served in the Senate. Because of his father’s political career, Mark split his childhood between Little Rock, Arkansas, and D.C. He attended Little Ro...

Think before you share

By Ben Stricker

March 15, 2020

As senior Wesley Smith scrolled through his Instagram feed, he spotted a post of his friend climbing on the ledge of a gray rock — but something strange about the photo struck him immediately. In the photo, his friend was wearing a flashy orange jacket, but Smith knew that he’d edited its color,...

Students look to combat high energy costs at Whitman

By Sarah Tong

March 12, 2020

Junior Nikki Widra sits in her eighth period English class, shivering because she didn’t bring a sweatshirt; most of her other classes are overwhelmingly hot. But across the school, junior Audrey Pechilis sits in her Physics class in the sweltering heat, wishing she had worn shorts even though it�...

Keeping it polished: Senior Jackie Aronie starts nail art business

By Celina Fratzscher

March 3, 2020

Senior Jackie Aronie is a self-defined perfectionist: each vial of nail polish is carefully organized and numbered by color, each nail art design painstakingly crafted with enormous attention to detail, and each fingernail precisely shaped to perfection. But one thing in her home nail salon stands ...

Whitman students fundraise to help fight the coronavirus outbreak in China

By Heather Wang

March 1, 2020

A few days before the Chinese Spring Festival, a holiday signifying family reunion, junior Baichuan Wang’s father was planning to fly back to the United States after a business trip to China. But he soon learned that he would have to extend his stay abroad — flights from China to the U.S. were eit...

Make sure to like and subscribe: YouTube provides creative outlet for Whitman students

By Jack McGuire

February 27, 2020

Junior Nicky Deeds — better known by his YouTube username “HamesAlwaysWins” — has his eyes locked on his 16 by 9 inch computer monitor, with his right hand firmly gripping a colorful mouse and his left hand hovering over the W, A, S and D keys on his keyboard. All of a sudden, Deeds’s poin...

Welcoming the spring with Chinese New Year

By Eva Levy

February 26, 2020

Using a wooden rolling pin, junior Chunlin An flattened a ball of dough on top of the black and white checkered tablecloth covering her dining room table. Littered across the table were all the dumpling-making necessities: shiny red and yellow trays, bowls filled with stuffing, a jar of flour, rolli...

Celebrating Black History Month in our community

By Bella Learn

February 25, 2020

The roots of Black History Month date back to 1926, when historian Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History named the second week of February “Negro History Week,” set to coincide with both Frederick Douglass’ and Abraham Lincoln’s birthdays. Now, almost 100 year...